shank

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English shanke, also shonke and schanke,^[2][3] inherited from Old English sceanca, earlier scanca,^[2][4][3] a weak masculine noun meaning shin or leg.^[4][5] It goes back to Proto-Germanic *skankô,^[6][2] through a West Germanic noun.^[4][7][8] Cognates are Middle Low German schenke (“leg, shank”), Dutch schenk (“leg-bone”) and German Schenkel (“thigh”),^[4][2][3] Other grades of the root gave German Schinken (“ham”) and Dutch schonk (“bone”).^[4][3][8] Swedish skank is probably from Low German.^[4] The root agrees in form with that of Old Norse skakkr (“wry, distorted”), which is probably cognate with Ancient Greek σκάζω (skázō, “to limp”),^[4][2][7] and Etymonline traces it to Proto-Indo-European *skeng- (“crooked”), perhaps as "that which bends".^[9] Klein adds hinken (“to limp”) to the same family.^[3] The OED notes that even if the root is the same, the original meaning of the Germanic nouns is obscure,^[4] and Ayto calls the ultimate origin unknown.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The part of the leg from the knee to the ankle, the shin: Old English, in the West Saxon Gospels (John 19:33).^[4] Barnhart dates sceanca about 1000, in Ælfric's Glossary, and scanca probably about 750.^[2] Bosworth–Toller also records the sense "upper part of the leg".^[5]

Semantic evolution

Ayto notes that the word first meant "leg" or "shin", and that its main modern meaning, a stem or shaft, emerged in the 16th century.^[8] The straight part of a nail or pin is recorded from 1483,^[4][9] the stem of a goblet from 1553,^[4] and the part of a tool joining the working end to the handle from the 1680s.^[9] Weekley notes that leg gradually replaced it in the general sense,^[10] and the OED marks the use for the whole leg as now jocular.^[4] Johnson (1755) defined it as "the middle joint of the leg; that part which reaches from the ankle to the knee".^[11] The phrase shanks's mare or shanks's pony, one's own legs as transport, is recorded from 1774;^[4][9] the verb shank, to walk, from 1773, is Scottish and dialectal.^[4][12][13] The golfing verb, to hit the ball with the heel of the club, appeared in the 1920s,^[14][4][9] and in 20th-century American prison and underworld slang a shank was a makeshift stabbing weapon, named after the tang of a knife, with the verb shank, to stab, from 1949.^[15][4] In Scots and Irish dialect Auld Shanks was death.^[16]

Timeline

• c. 1000 – the leg from the knee to the ankle.^[4][2]
• 1176 – as a surname, Schanke.^[2]
• 1480 – plural, fur from the legs of animals (obsolete by 1607).^[4]
• 1483 – the straight part of a nail or pin.^[4][9]
• 1553 – the stem of a goblet.^[4]
• 1680s – the part of a tool between the working end and the handle.^[9]
• 1773 – verb, to walk (Scottish).^[4][12]
• 1774 – shanks's mare, one's own legs as a means of travel.^[4][9]
• 1804 – a cut of meat from the leg.^[4]
• 1848 – verb, of a plant or fruit, to decay at the stalk.^[4]
• 1925 – verb, in golf, to hit the ball with the heel of the club.^[4] Etymonline dates it by 1927.^[9]
• 1949 – verb, to stab, especially with a makeshift knife.^[4][15]
• 1953 – noun, a makeshift knife.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. The part of the leg between the knee and the ankle; the shin; jocularly, the whole leg.^[17][12][4]
2. The corresponding part of the leg in other animals.^[17][12][4]
3. A cut of meat from the leg of an animal: slow-roasted lamb shanks.^[17][4]
4. The long, straight main part of a tool, key, anchor, hook, nail or pin, between the working end and the handle or head.^[17][4][9]
5. The stem of a drinking glass.^[4]
6. The ring or stem on the back of some buttons.^[17]
7. (slang) A makeshift knife, as made by prisoners.^[15]

Verb

1. (golf) To hit the ball with the heel of the club.^[4][12][9]
2. (slang) To stab someone, especially with a makeshift knife.^[4][15]
3. (chiefly Scottish) To go on foot; to walk.^[12][4]
4. Of a plant or fruit, to decay at the stalk.^[12][4]

Word family

• shanked
• foreshank
• sheepshank
• spindleshanks
• greenshank
• redshank
• shanks' mare

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
6. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
13. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
15. ^ a b c d e Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
16. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
17. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins